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The Lt General K S Brar Chat

Lieutentant General Brar attacked every question with military precision, firing his answers like well-aimed bullets. Be it something as memorable as India’s victory over Pakistan in December 1971, or something as controversial as Operation Bluestar -- the Lieutenant General did not duck a single question. Check the transcript -- you’ll know what we mean! pp (Mon Dec 16 19:40:34 1996 IST):

hello!!

Hello! Mr. K S Brar

General Brar? ARe you there, sir?

General Brar, what a pleasure to have you with us this evening. I do hope you enjoy the experience.

General Brar, what a pleasure to have you with us this evening. I do hope you enjoy the experience.

Good evening, Sir, nice to be speaking with you. As someone who was actually fighting on the ground, could you share your memories with us of the fighting?

Hullo, General. I am logging in from Savannah, Georgia. It is a cold morning out here. what lessons did the Indian army learn in Bangladesh that it can use in future conflicts?

Good evening, all, it is good to be here, and to take your questions. I took part in the 1971 Indo-Pak conflict in erstwhile East Pakistan, during which period I was in command of an infantry battalion and had the rare privilege to be in the first batch of troops who entered Dhaka on the morning of 16th December 1971.

General Brar, do you think the Indian army would have succeeded if it had not been for the Mukti Bahini. Why then do we extol our victory so much? Would we have won the war had it not been for the Mukti Bahini?

How come, general, an officer like you of such skills and talents failed to become army chief. I think it is a shame after everything you did for this country.

How come, general, an officer like you of such skills and talents failed to become army chief. I think it is a shame after everything you did for this country.

Aarti> when one looks back to those few days between 4th and 16th DEc 1971, 25 years ago, it is a chilling feeling today to realise how bitter some of the fighting was, and to cap it all off, one was amazed how, within a period of 16 days, the operation ended in the fall of Dhaka and the surrender of 91,000 Pakistani soldiers. We had all along known that the Pak army would be defeated, but the speed with which this was done was unexpected. Driving into Dhaka that morning and landing up at Headquarters, Eastern Command to find Gen Niazi greeting us and declaring his intentions was in itself a momentous occasion.

General Brar, I believe you won a Vir Chakra in the battle for Bangladesh. Could you please describe the circumstances in which you were decorated? How many soldiers did you lose in battle?

Sir, many years ago the Illustrated Weekly published an article about Indian soldiers languishing in Pakistani jails. Do you think it is true?

Hi

Balram>> Your question as to whether we would have succeeded without the help of the Mukti Bahini is an interesting one. I can assure you that we would have succeeded, but it would have taken us a little longer and we would have suffered heavier casualties than we did. The biggest advantage of the Mukti Bahini was that they were a highly motivated lot, thirsting for revenge against the Pak soldiers and at the same time they provided a wealth of information with regard to intelligence of the locations of the Pak troops, which went a long way in helping us to get through the gaps and achieve surprise.

Thank you for the response. What were the three most important factors responsible for India's victory?

Thank you for the response. What were the three most important factors responsible for India's victory?

Jaswant>> There were a number of lessons that we picked up from the Bangladesh war. For instance, rather than fighting a conventional, stereotyped war and advancing on the axis which are strongly defended by the enemy, it pays rich dividends to fight a somewhat unconventional battle with plenty of flexibility and to take the most unexpected and difficult routes to get to your objective. The element of surprise, we found, was a major battle-winning factor. The other major lesson was to psychologically defeat the enemy by choking him from all directions and forcing him to give up the will to fight.

Was it true that General Manekshaw, more than any other officer, was reponsible for India's victory? Was it his command that carried off the day?

If you learnt all those lessons, why didn't you use it at Amritsar in June 1984? Why waste so many lives? Or was the order to annihilate the 'enemy'?

Photographs: Jewella Miranda